Raffy Joins The Club The Rangers' Rafael Palmeiro celebrated his 500th home run--and accepted long overdue recognition--in typically understated fashion

That damn banner sure wasn't helping. On May 6, when the TexasRangers opened a six-game home stand against the Toronto BlueJays and the Cleveland Indians, the massive sign hanging beyondthe centerfield wall reminded everyone at The Ballpark inArlington that one of the Rangers was on history's doorstep: 498HR RAFAEL PALMEIRO. But Palmeiro wasn't feeling comfortable atthe plate. Three days earlier he had been hit on the right elbowby a pitch from Cleveland Indians righthander Jake Westbrook,and he had been relegated to pinch-hitting duty for one game.Back in the lineup, Palmeiro went 0 for 11 and then finallyhit number 499 last Thursday, off Blue Jays reliever TreverMiller. After he failed to connect on Friday and Saturdayagainst the Indians, it was clear that the 38-year-old firstbaseman, whose swing under normal circumstances is aspicturesque as any in the game, was pressing.

"From the time [the home stand started], I knew I had to hit two home runs," Palmeiro said of the pressure to reach 500 in his home ballpark. "I tried not to think about it too much, but it's hard not to when you have a sign that's about 600 feet long staring at you from behind the pitcher's release point." After 10 years of quietly rolling out statistically grand seasons as if from an assembly line--yet never being counted among baseball's elite--Palmeiro had his greatest achievement staring him in the face.

Then, on a 3-and-2 count with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning on Sunday, Palmeiro, in his final at bat of the home stand, turned on a fastball from Cleveland righthander Dave Elder and flicked it skyward down the rightfield line. For a tense moment he feared that the Ballpark's crosswinds might push the ball foul. But it stayed true, and Palmeiro became the 19th player in baseball history to hit 500 home runs.

The at bat was classic Palmeiro. On a 1-and-0 count he took an outside fastball for a strike, a pitch that he had learned to lay off in the mid-1990s when he went from being a soft, opposite-field contact hitter to a pull-hitting slugger. Palmeiro then took two balls, one barely missing away. Only when Elder threw a 3-and-1 shoelace-high fastball did Palmeiro betray his anxiety, fouling off what would have been ball four. Then Elder tried to sneak in a waist-high inside fastball, the kind of mistake that the Cuban-born Palmeiro has ridden to the gates of the Hall of Fame.

Fireworks filled the clear afternoon sky, above the banner that was immediately updated to display Palmeiro's latest Cooperstown credential. In the rightfield bleachers Father John Collet, an instructor at the University of Dallas and Holy Trinity Seminary, gripped the home run ball and held fast against a mob snatching at the souvenir. (After the game Father Collet exchanged the historic ball for Palmeiro-autographed items including a baseball, a bat, a batting helmet, T-shirts and a jacket.) In a private box about a dozen Palmeiro family members, including Rafael's wife of 17 years, Lynne; his mother, Maria; and his 39-year-old brother, Rick, wept tears of joy. As their dad rounded third, Palmeiro's two sons, Patrick, 13, and Preston, 8, sprinted from the stands to the rightfield wall and removed a green tarp to reveal a logo commemorating the event.

Palmeiro saw almost none of it. He said he recalled touching first base, but "I don't remember what happened after that." Never one for batter's-box preening or dandy home run trots, Palmeiro circled the bases as he had virtually all 499 other times, head lowered and face expressionless. You'd never have guessed what he had just done, and that's how he would prefer it.

"It's not going to change who I am," he says of number 500. "I've never been a guy who does any look-at-me-stuff. I'm not fancy." He spits out the last word as if it were battery acid. "I've always taken pride in playing the game the right way. If it meant no one was really interested in me, then so be it. But I look at videos of Mantle and Maris and DiMaggio--those guys weren't flashy. I don't try to attract attention."

On the field, that is. Off it, Palmeiro's national profile is such that he is, however oddly, best known to the casual fan as a pitchman for Viagra. Notoriously tight-lipped on the subject--he was reportedly paid $2 million for the endorsement by Pfizer, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures the drug--Palmeiro simply says that he's "happy to help people with problems."

His numbers, though, deserve attention. He finished the week with a career .292 batting average, 2,666 hits, 1,600 RBIs, 1,481 runs and almost as many walks (1,163) as strikeouts (1,187). He has hit 43 or more home runs in four of the last five seasons and at least 38 for eight consecutive years, breaking Babe Ruth's big league milestone. From 1993 through 2002 his 395 home runs were the third most in baseball, trailing only Sammy Sosa's 462 and Barry Bonds's 437. Over that same span only Sosa drove in more runs (1,206) than Palmeiro (1,154), and those two share the longest current streak of 100-plus-RBI seasons (eight). If he plays three more years--as he expects to--Palmeiro, with 529 career doubles at week's end, has a good shot to join Hank Aaron as the only players with 3,000 hits, 600 doubles and 500 home runs.

Given his durability, he should make it. Palmeiro has averaged 157 games in his 14 full seasons (not including strike-shortened 1994); from 1991 to 2002 he played in more games (1,845) than any other player. Along the way the converted leftfielder developed into a three-time Gold Glove first baseman (1997 through '99). "He has been a model of consistency," says Blue Jays first baseman Carlos Delgado. "He's not loud, but every year he'll hit 40 home runs and drive in 120, and he's a Gold Glover. What else can you ask for? I'll take his career any day."

"He wows you when you play with him every day," says former Baltimore Orioles teammate B.J. Surhoff. "He's very disciplined. He hits lefthanders, he hits righthanders. He has a wonderful rhythm and tempo to his swing. He makes it look so easy."

Yes, Palmeiro's lefthanded swing--the slight coil, the seamless weight transfer, those lightning-quick hands--is smooth, but the notion that hitting is easy for him, that Palmeiro rolls out of bed and into the batter's box, couldn't be less true. "His is really a high-maintenance swing," says Rangers hitting coach Rudy Jaramillo. "Any double-tap swing is, because of the timing with your hands and feet. Raffy's mastered it, but only because he hones it every day."

Palmeiro's swing has four stages: 1) as the pitcher delivers, Palmeiro slides his right foot back, tapping it close to his left foot; 2) then he strides into the pitch while keeping his hands square; 3) just before he plants the right foot, he moves his hands back; 4) and finally, tapping his right foot again, he whips his hands through the zone. "It's easy off a tee, so everybody thinks they can do it," Jaramillo says. "But it's far more difficult against live pitching. Plus, Raffy had to tweak it when he started hitting for power."

To that end, in hitting drills Palmeiro swings bats affixed with five-pound weights. His off-season training includes deep-water running, to strengthen his knees and ankles against the wear that fells many sluggers. And he maintains a near-maniacal batting practice regimen, whether in the winter at the Colleyville, Texas, home he shares with Lynne and their two boys, or during the season, when he's always sneaking in an extra 10 minutes in the batting cage. "He's not like a lot of guys, who do it only to be seen doing it," Rangers manager Buck Showalter says. "Raffy's doing it on his own. He's like the Groundhog Day of greatness. But look at his numbers right now, and 500 home runs may be the fourth most impressive stat on the page. Look at his career on-base percentage [.374], for starters. For a guy with his power, that's ridiculous."

Says Texas shortstop Alex Rodriguez, "With Raffy, it's impossible to decide what he does best. Is that why he's flown under the radar? Yeah, probably."

Not entirely, though. Playing in the company of teammates such as A-Rod has contributed to Palmeiro's relative anonymity. When Palmeiro broke in with the Cubs, in 1986, Ryne Sandberg owned Chicago. When Palmeiro was traded to the Rangers before the '89 season, the star was Ruben Sierra, followed by Juan Gonzalez. After Palmeiro signed with Baltimore as a free agent in '94, he played alongside the iconic Ripken. Upon Palmeiro's return to the Rangers in '99, he and Gonzalez were eclipsed by the American League MVP season of catcher Ivan Rodriguez. Two years later A-Rod arrived.

Palmeiro also lacks the resume-enhancing accomplishments that most locks for the Hall of Fame have had. He has never won an MVP award, or even finished higher than fifth in the voting. He has never led the league in home runs or hit 50 in a season. (His high is 47, in 1999 and 2001.) He has never been voted to the All-Star Game starting lineup (and has been added to the roster only four times). He has also never played in a World Series. All of which is dismissed by Palmeiro. "I've been damn lucky to play with the teammates I've had, from Ryne and [Cubs outfielder] Andre Dawson to Cal and now Alex," he says. "They've made me a better player. I just try to use it as a positive."

He's had plenty of opportunities, beginning with his trade from the Cubs following the 1988 season--his first full year in the bigs--in which Palmeiro hit .307 but lost a spirited duel with the San Diego Padres' Tony Gwynn (.313) for the National League batting crown. Because Palmeiro had hit only eight home runs, the Cubs doubted his slugging potential and sent him to Texas in a nine-player trade that brought reliever Mitch Williams to Chicago. "I was bitter, because I felt they didn't give me a chance," Palmeiro says of the Cubs. "But it was a wake-up call for me. I realized that I'd have to produce more runs to stay in the big leagues."

Palmeiro began lifting weights and adding the muscle that would start sending his line drives over the wall in droves. "I focused on my upper body, my arms, my wrists," he says. He also stopped swinging at pitchers' first strikes, no matter how tempting. "If it wasn't the pitch I could drive to right-centerfield or maybe out the ballpark, it wasn't the pitch I wanted anymore," he says. "I started taking more pitches, looking for ones more middle-in, ones I could handle."

After his contract ran out following the 1993 season, Palmeiro was stunned when the Rangers chose to sign free-agent first baseman Will Clark, letting Palmeiro go to the Orioles. (Portending his major league fortunes, Palmeiro had played in Clark's shadow while the two were college teammates at Mississippi State.) According to Palmeiro, Texas wanted Clark's leadership, his willingness to get in teammates' faces; Palmeiro kept to himself. "But those years in Baltimore were great," he says. "It was there, when I hit my 300th home run [on July 17, 1998], that I first thought 500 was a possibility."

By the time he returned to the Rangers as a free agent, Palmeiro had front-row-of-the-bleachers pop and a perfected swing that made 500 an inevitability. In Chicago and his first Texas stint, at old Arlington Stadium, Palmeiro had hit a home run every 29.3 at bats; in Baltimore, with the cozy rightfield fence at Camden Yards, he'd almost halved that ratio (once every 15.7 at bats). Similar dimensions at the Ballpark (which has a rightfield power alley of 381 feet) further whetted his home run appetite. "The best decision of my career was coming back," he says with a smile.

While those fans have been treated to his power-packed (if largely unheralded) return engagement, his teammates have seen Palmeiro evolve as a vocal leader. He has reached out to younger players, particularly his possible successor at first base, Mark Teixeira, while embracing--and being embraced by--A-Rod. "You come across so many guys that disappoint you once you play with them. But the more you know Raffy, the more you want to learn from him," says the shortstop. "He's the one guy here who has more knowledge than I do. He knows where he belongs now. He's going right past 500, and 600 is waiting there for him."

And Palmeiro can taste it, sweet and career-defining. He interrupted a question about "coming down the stretch" to the historic clout. "Oh, this isn't the stretch," he said quickly. "No way. I've got plenty more, man." Palmeiro has waited too long for the game to stop for him. He has already moved on to a bigger goal. "As long as I keep my best shape for three or four more years," he says, "600 isn't at all out of the question. It's a matter of time."

COLOR PHOTO: RONALD MARTINEZ/GETTY IMAGES [COVER INSET] PALMEIRO HITS #500COLOR PHOTO: PHOTOGRAPH BY BOB ROSATO MATTER OF FACT Home fans went wild over 500, but a bat flip and a fist pump were Palmeiro's only shows of exuberance.B/W PHOTO: CORBIS STEADY HAMMERIN' Aaron, like Palmeiro, never hit 50 home runs in a season.COLOR PHOTO: STEPHEN GREEN FAULTY FORECAST Thinking he'd never hit for power, the Cubs traded Palmeiro to the Rangers after the 1988 season.

The Power ELITE

Rafael Palmeiro is the only member of the 500-home-run club without a league homer title to his credit, and one of the few without an MVP award. However, he stacks up well in categories in which consistency counts the most, such as seasons with 35 or more homers (he ranks sixth among the club's 19 members) and career hits (seventh).